Tucker's running blog

It did wonders for my ego as a runner and as a blogger when Orbana contacted me and asked me to review their new energy/health drink.

I decided to try the drink at rest, before, during and after a workout, but first had a read through the packaging and discovered that Orbana sets itself apart from the pack by combining energy, vitamins, and hydration. The nutritional info tells me that the drink contains a combination of carbs, B, C, and E vitamins, amino acids, and minerals.

Orbana is supplied in powder form to preserve the amino acids and to reduce the carbon footprint associated with delivering the product. After mixing the drink (which seemed like a workout in itself), I was pleasantly surprised none of the chalky texture that I expected from a powder based drink, and a more natural flavour than some other energy drinks.

I should point out that I don't regularly use energy drinks, so don't have much to compare Orbana to in terms of performance. I drank my first bottle before a one hour tempo run - I had a good run and felt hydrated throughout - not much more I can say here.

Next test was during a twelve mile cross country run (my longest training run of the year so far). I should have poured the drink into my regular running bottle because I had to take a walk break for my drink in order to avoid spilling it over myself. Other than that - fine, I felt refreshed after drinking this at the half way point and found it more palatable than a certain other energy drink that gets handed out during races.

Drinking after the run did quickly leave me feeling refreshed and rehydrated, so good work here.

So...

Pros - better tasting than some energy drinks, combines energy with vitamin and mineral supplements

Cons - don't run and drink, unless you don't mind wearing it

As far as I know you can only buy Orbana from their online shop at http://www.orbana.com/ the price per bottle is slightly higher than other drinks, but you can buy a tub of the powder at a lower cost.

Orbana are currently offering free samples via their website so I would recommend giving it a try.